"Brothers" Chapter 1

"Brothers"

20 year old Roy walked slowly...very slowly to his “childhood home.” He didn’t have the best memories of the place.

His “parents” had moved him there after they’d found out about his drug use--it had been a difficult year. He’d been 14, and had too many problems to list. At the root of the problem was Oliver Queen-his adopted dad. After some rough times, they’d actually managed to get along and admit they loved each other, but Roy still moved out as soon as he’d turned 18. His brother, more than anyone, had missed him.

Nowadays he played with his band, as a college dropout, and waited tables. Maybe it should matter that his dad was a billionaire, but it didn’t to Roy, not anymore. When he was younger, he had all this misplaced anger toward the IDEA of his little brother, “The real child”, the “biological son.” who would inherit his father’s company, nowadays, he didn’t want a stuffy old company, but knew Oliver was just dying for both his sons to join him in the family business, and hated that Roy was working in a ‘restaurant’. 

Their relationship was sometimes better, sometimes worse than when Roy had been a teenager and on this particular day, it was tepid. Oliver had had a big party to celebrate his 40th birthday the month before, one that Roy had not attended because he’d been “busy”. Ollie had been pissed. Roy had shrugged it off. They weren’t mad at each other, but they also weren’t thrilled. 

Dinah had wisely (debatable) insisted on a family dinner. So there he was, already not feeling confident in the day, and to top it all off, he’d been knocking on the door for the past three minutes without an answer. He groaned and pulled out his key. He didn’t like to use it, but he was glad his parents had always insisted he keep a spare, and droned on and on about how the place would always be his home. 

Upon entering the house, he couldn’t help but notice that his little brother was cleaning the sitting room, that in itself was odd- they had a cleaning woman that tidied up the place every morning… 

He also didn’t smell any cooking. Had he gotten the date wrong? The living room TV was blaring music, and Connor was vacuuming, which is probably why he hadn’t heard the knock, or the door opening. 

Roy went to fish the remote to pause the TV, noticing that Connor had his YouTube account up on the big screen. He paused it, and Connor immediately turned around. 

“Why don’t you just use your headphones instead of trying to pierce everyone’s ear drums?” He smiled at the kid, and the teenager immediately went to hug him. 

“Roy! You came!” 

“Yeah, I came...what’s going on?” 

He noticed that Connor immediately rolled his eyes at the question and sat on the nearest couch, with Roy joining him a few seconds later. 

“Dad invited grandma.” 

“What? No! Hell no...that was so not mentioned.” He was ready to bolt. His relationship with his “grandmother” had not ever been amicable.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s just to punish me, and she won’t even pay attention to you…” 

Roy stared at him for a second before snorting. When had his little brother become a sulky teenager? Roy didn’t even dwell on the fact that not being paid attention to, had  a great deal to do with why his teenage years had been full of turmoil, resentment and hurt. 

“I thought you bonded with Moira after you spent that summer with her...” His parents had decided they’d never been on a proper honeymoon (puke), and had gone backpacking through Europe. Roy had just dropped out of college and Oliver and Dinah had been too upset with him to ask him to watch Connor, and so the poor kid had been sent to spend a summer with his overbearing grandmother.- Surprisingly, Connor had seen her in a new light. They’d even taken a pottery class together-- one that ended in disaster when Moira had gotten into a fight with the instructor, but still, they’d bonded over pottery, meditation, and people watching. She’d also bought Connor a whole new wardrobe and the beats headphones his parents had said he needed to buy himself. All in all, it had been an interesting summer. 

“Grandma can be cool sometimes, but I want to spend this summer in Hawaii with Jon and Damian, and dad keeps  threatening me with staying with Mo-mo instead.” 

“I just puked in my mouth a little.” Roy told him dryly, but seriously? ‘Grandma can be cool’?? ‘Mo-mo’?? What the fuck? Had aliens abducted his real little brother and he’d just been too busy to notice? 

“Hawaii? What’s that all about?” Maybe his title of ‘best big brother’ needed tweaking, he had no idea what the kid was up to. 

The 13 year old next to him shrugged. “Jon’s grandparents are going...first time ever, and Jon volunteered to join them and help them out and stuff, and Damian and I want to go too--” 

“So, what you’re telling me is that you three want to bum a ride with poor Martha and Jonathan Kent to Hawaii and then plan on staying as far away from them as possible, and being shitty teenagers. “ 

The blue eyed, barely teenager, rolled his eyes and slumped. “Go away if you’re going to be an ass.” 

Roy shoved him a little too hard. “Don’t be like that with me. I’m not dad.” 

“-You act just like him sometimes.” 

Roy gaped in horror. That was possibly the most insulting thing anyone had ever said to him. He immediately jumped on his brother and poked at his sides. “You take that back right now!” He yelled in mock anger as the youth shrieked and laughed. 

“Stop, stop, stop! Roy! Haha, okay, you’re not like dad…” 

Roy huffed with a smile. “You’re a brat. Why are you cleaning? Are we poor now? Do we not have people for vacuuming?” 

“Oh, we still have people on payroll, but mom and dad think I should learn the value of hard work and money.” He rolled his eyes. “I BORROWED 50 dollars from mom’s purse and they treat me like a criminal.” 

“So, you’re grounded.” 

“Grounded, disowned, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention to the lecture. They took my phone away.” 

“Ouch.”  Suddenly the whole scene made sense. 

“Yeah, it sucks.” Connor told him and put his feet on  the coffee table, while Roy just bit his tongue. He knew his little brother idolized him, and that he should probably say something to clarify HIS position on stealing, but somehow the phrase ‘Mom and Dad are right’ still wasn’t in his vocabulary. 

“So, what are we having for dinner? Where’s Dinah?” 

“Dad made a ‘no meat meat loaf’. Mom tried it and decided we’re just having pizza instead. She went to pick it up. “ 

“Oh.” 

“Yeah...so, do you think it looks clean? Think Dad will give me my phone back?” 

“When did he take it away?” 

“Yesterday…” 

“For how long?” 

“A month…” Connor made a face, while Roy laughed. Of course the kid would think a 1 day served out of 30 was good enough, and honestly, it probably would be, his parents were way too soft on him. 

------------------------------- 

Oliver and Moira ended up arriving before the pizza, with the same thought, but different emotion behind it. 

“Oh, Roy’s here?” The older woman didn’t try to hide her disdain as she went over to kiss Connor’s cheek. 

“Roy, you’re here!” Oliver went over and hugged his son. Sure, he was still annoyed the kid had missed his birthday, but he was still happy to see him. “How was Chicago?” 

The young man had played a few gigs there in the past month, and Ollie assumed that’s why he’d been “too busy” for his family. 

“It was fine, we were only there a week.” 

“...Oh? I thought you’d been there all month…” 

“Nope.” He looked over to Moira and Connor, who were busy talking about some art show Moira wanted to take him to. 

“Why is she here, Dad?” 

“Be nice, please...she’s going through some things.” Oliver answered him briefly before noticing Dinah was home and going over to help her. Roy’s eyebrows just furrowed at that, ‘going through things’? He scoffed...it was probably something like somebody had worn the same gown as her at the same dinner party. The horror. 

----

Most of dinner with Moira went just as expected. She made faces at the pizza and criticised everyone- except for Connor of course. Her precious little grandson. 

“I just don’t understand why you’d drop out of college, Roy, it’s an embarrassment to the family, honestly…” She offended, once the topic came up. 

He ignored her. He was done letting her thoughts affect him. 

“So, Connor, why’d you steal money from Dinah?” He asked suddenly, hating to do that to his brother, but really, she always thought the kid was so perfect, somebody needed to bring her back to reality. 

Ollie and Dinah both groaned at the same time, while Connor gave him a look of having been betrayed. 

“What? Why would you say that?” Moira was more offended than anyone else. “HE doesn’t need to steal--” She was looking at Oliver for some sort of support in defending her perfect grandchild from the … street kid he’d invited into their lives. 

“Mom, Roy’s right- though I don’t know why it’s any of his business to bring it up during dinner.” He lightly admonished, giving the young adult a look. “Connor took some money from Dinah and-”

“So?” The woman hated the implication. “She’s his mom. I mean--” 

“Yeah, that doesn’t mean  he gets to take things without permission, Moira.” Dinah was sick of the woman. She understood why Oliver was trying to play nice, but she certainly didn’t have to. 

As Moira readied her counterattack, Connor was glaring at Roy, something the latter hadn’t been expecting. 

“Why the fuck would you say that?!” He yelled, getting everyone’s attention. Since when did Connor yell at dinner? Or curse? 

Sure, he’d always been a picky eater as a little boy, and always had to complain about it, but that was...different.  Roy wasn’t sure how to respond. He had no idea why he was getting that reaction. “...Excuse me? I-” 

“No, you’re not excused! I can’t believe you! Maybe you like throwing your mistakes in people’s faces, but I don’t-” 

“Connor!” His father was standing up and grabbing him by the bicep. “You need to calm down-” 

“No, I hate him! He’s never around anymore, and when he is, he just...sucks!” If his brother would have been on good terms with his parents, Connor could have just spent Summer with him, but instead he’d been alone in a mansion with a crabby old woman, and when he’d finally bonded with her, his brother was trying to make him look bad in front of her! 

“You don’t get to say that! Go to your room!” Dinah was defending her older child, who honestly had no idea how to react- which usually led to anger. 

“I suck? You’re the one walking around stealing from the people that love and take care of you, and acting entitled to it! You’re a spoiled brat, Connor,  and you always have been!” 

The insult was enough to make Connor lunge at his older brother over the pizza box, starting a fist fight that he couldn’t possibly win.

                                            To Be Continued...